Tuesday 13 September 2011

Hoarding and Vintage.....

Sorry for radio silence, what with trying to get into a new work routine along with a new exercise routine which has me out of the house and in the pool or gym by 6.45am I'm rather busy and sleepy!

Anyway as I've said before this is Sorting September, I'm going great guns, I have already sorted our bedroom, the clothes room, my office and started listing stuff on ebay. But what I notice is that I just have so much stuff and I struggle to part with a lot of it.

I do think hoarding is an occupational hazard of a vintage lover. Am I wrong? Do we all hoard? I just don't think minimalism in possessions/clothes/furniture/jewellery/shoes happens when you love vintage.

I mean I know you've seen this before, but look at our new clothes rack.


This dear readers is what we have after 3 years of culling our vintage clothes, this does not include sweaters of any type, or in fact most of our winter clothes which are currently packed away. Admittedly there are some winter coats in there but still. I hasten to add that selling any vintage clothes made me panic and I had to talk myself into it mostly. I still have stuff that doesn't fit - although I'm hoping the cutting back and exercise will help in that regard!

Same for jewellery, every time I think really I should get rid of some I have far too much, I just can't bring myself to get rid of stuff I love.

Here is just a small selection of what I have.


That doesn't include, necklaces, bracelets, watches etc etc

And don't even get me started on fabric and patterns, remember earlier in the year I had to buy this to store it all


I'm not going to lie to you, I have bought more since, not much but some.

So dear readers is it me? Am I the hoarder or are all vintage lovers hoarders? Please put my mind at rest :o)

21 comments:

Jennie DeSoto said...

I love vintage but found myself hoarding clothes I will NEVER fit into again. I slowly have been selling off some of said clothes but being lazy it's not worked well. I have a closet filled with bags and bags of vintage. I could be using the closet for clothes that actually FIT. So yes I guess I hoard but mostly out of laziness haha

Tallulah May Vintage Socialite. said...

I am truely a belive that as vintage lover we are all also hoarders.
However I have recently had a major clear out and like your self sold many dearly loved and worn items, but they are now being re loved and worn and I have the money to save (yeh right) well taht what I tell the mister.

Miss Magpie said...

Guilty as charged. I have tried very hard to downsize and failed dismally.
My main impetus with trying to par down my clothes was when we moved and I was truely shocked at just how many I had. I moved black sack after black sack after black sack all full to bursting and that was only the contents of my wardrobe! A lot of it I had either never worn or never would again.
Like you there are some items I just can't bear to part with. I have even gone as far as listing them on Ebay and then had to remove the listing after the thought of letting them go kept me awake at night lol.
Some things have such special memories attached to them, or are just too lovely.
I guess I love my clutter too much! Oh and I would so love to run riot through your wardrobe and fabric stash.......

Perdita Tinsel said...

I have a 'collection'. It's all in boxes as we have recently moved and I cannot bear to put it in the musty old fitted wardrobes in need of a paint!

The sad thing is my 'collection' isn't piles of valuable vintage: just a big old combo of my charity shop finds.

Brittany_Va-VoomVintage said...

nope, I'm a hoarder too. My closet shelf needs repair due to holding so much weight. I had to get a dress rack for my tiny bedroom, another jewelry box, another shoe rack...my poor husband is a saint for dealing with all of it. lately, I have been trying to root through and get rid of things I don't wear to make room for new, fantastic things but it's hard to do!

Cee said...

Definitely guilty but I prefer to say I collect. We know vintage is far more one of a kind, so when you see it and love it, you TRULY may never see it again! And it can be gotten for so cheap sometime! I confess to having a lot of clothes that don't fit and need to be sold though. Just need some time and space to photograph them all!

Lakota [Faith Hope and Charity Shopping] said...

I don't have enough! I'm a semi-sucessful minimalist with aspirations towards having a hoard of vintage clothing. I can be pretty ruthless about my possessions but it's a lot easier to be cavalier about high street crap - which I find terrible quality anyway. I basically got into the habit of not spending on myself because we were so skint, and then didn't get out of it. That said, I bought a 50s day dress from another blogger before I'd even given my children breakfast this morning - so I'm on my way! I guess I'm in the minority of vintage/2nd hand loving bloggers that I can almost give myself carte blanche to buy more - whoop!

Vintage Christine said...

Yes, we are hoarders of the first order (ha ha) but you're cheating. YOU'RE ORGANIZED!

1950s Atomic Ranch House said...

I used to hoard. Come from a family of hoarders lol. But necessity (need for money) forced me to rethink what was truly important, so I sold a lot of it again. Then deciding on a "theme" for each room helps keep it in check. Sticking to strict colors and style (vintage Space room, vintage Girly room, mid-mod living room, etc).

But hey, bottom line is, if you love your things, keep your things. :)

Tasha said...

I would totally collect more if I had more room. Sadly we have a one bedroom condo so that seriously curtails that, but even still every closet is stuffed and if you open a closet door, a purse or something might fall on your head! ;)

Gemma said...

Not at all... I struggle parting with stuff, I've even tried to say I'm not allowed to buy something new till I've sold something in it's place... FAIL! x

doradadama said...

I am afraid,We are all hoader whores,lol
I do like to give stuff to charity shops and friends/family.
I love your organizing skills.

Used-to-Bees said...

If you sort and organise as well as you do, I think hoarding is okay! It's not like it's pile of dusty newspapers, broken biros and take-away menus, like someone on that Kim and Aggie show...Anyone who loves vintage is bound to find items in need of rescue and re-homing!
x

Nelly said...

I am one of your clubbers and yes I panic when if I decide to sell and have had regrets after selling and yes I have a lovely rack of vintage (stay tuned) and lots packed away including wedding dresses (that I shall never use) and lots of bags and jewellery etc etc so I get you and its why I love blogging coz my family dont get it but you guys do xxx

Helga said...

Um,yes,I'm guilty of hoarding!!!
I have periods when I am anxious about it,and periods when I'm not!! I think I just need a bigger house!! Ha!
XXX

Kitty said...

I'm not a hoarder at all, and sorry to say but yes Fiona, you have WAY too much stuff. Think of how much money you have just sitting there, it could be repurposed into things you can wear, i.e. that DO fit. Personally I'm on a big purge at the moment...can you tell? LOL

Vix said...

What a lot of stuff! I'm lusting after your earring holders especially.
I think when you buy second-hand and so cheaply stuff can accumulate but I'm pretty ruthless when it comes to outing it. x

Tempest said...

I honestly don't think that you have a problem, seriously. Just watch one of those intervention-type programmes about REAL hoarders. I think hoarding is a term really to describe people who are out of control, who have no idea what they have, and it taking over every space that they have. They're the ones with plastic bags full of stuff (clothes mixed with food or newspapers etc), mountains of stuff piled up on every bit of floor. Your COLLECTION is hung up or as you said "packed away" - that's not hoarding. That's buying things you value because of their beauty and/or age and loving them so much you don't want to part with them or are even deteremined to slim down to make them used again. That's not a thing to worry about, it's nice.

LandGirl1980 said...

I hoard like you would not believe ( well - you would as you seem to do it too!) I am having a massive clearence atm - mostly Etsy fails that have been too big/didn't suit me. I keep thinking of all the room I shall have for NEW stuff!!

Andi B. Goode said...

You're definitely not the only one. And I hoarded well before I was into vintage (my sister is rather the opposite - she's 14 years older than I am and as a child she practically forced me to part with toys I wasn't ready to, one of which my mother made for me, and I'm still rather upset about that). A lady who runs a vintage shop here told me her advice is not to get rid of something until you're absolutely sure or you will most likely regret it (only good advice if you ever get sure!). But glad to know I'm not the only one who has things that don't fit, still - mine fit just last year, though. Sigh.
-Andi x

Dolly Cool Clare said...

I think we all collect/hoard! Its human nature for sure. But, like my dad always says - you are only ever the custodian of your possessions, never the owner, as you cant take them with you when you are gone! Sell loads and go on holiday I say! :)

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